Illawarra man admits to child sex abuse

By
ANGELA THOMPSON

A 73-year-old man has pleaded guilty in Wollongong District Court to a slew of child sex offences.

A 73-year-old man has pleaded guilty in Wollongong District Court to a slew of child sex offences.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has admitted to interfering with two victims - a boy and a girl - during the 1970s and 80s.

On Tuesday he pleaded guilty to assaulting and committing an act of indecency on an eight-year-old girl at Koonawarra in 1979 and again in 1983 or 1984, when the girl was aged 10 or 11.

The Department of Public Prosecutions presented a further seven indictments relating to the boy, who was aged between five and 11 at the time of the offences.

The man admitted to indecently assaulting the boy in 1979 at Koonawarra and having sexual intercourse with him at Wollongong in 1983 or 1984, when he was nine.

In court, the man stood and replied "guilty" to further charges stemming from encounters with the boy in Wollongong in 1984 including buggery, committing an act of indecency, sexual intercourse with a child; homosexual sexual intercourse with a child (either in 1984 or 1985, when the boy was 10 or 11 years old).

He further admitted to a charge of homosexual sexual intercourse with the boy during a subsequent encounter at Wollongong in either 1984 or 1985.

Judge Paul Conlon is awaiting a report on the health of the man, who did not apply for bail.

The case will be re-mentioned in Wollongong on Friday, and likely adjourned to Campbelltown District Court on July 14.